Have you ever wondered, “what is SAM.gov? Well, we have the answer as well as some tips to help you use this important government website as well as a few other websites that can be important to anyone wishing to bid on government contracting jobs.
What Is SAM.gov?
SAM stands for System for Award Management, and it’s a huge central database that includes information about all government contractors. In the past, there was the Central Contractor Registration, or CCR, and while you hear about CCR.gov sometimes, it is obsolete, and everything is all about SAM.gov these days.
In order to do business with any federal government agency, you must complete SAM registration. Once you’ve completed SAM registration, the government assigns you a Commercial and Government Entities Code, or CAGE Code, which is your unique identifier in SAM.
The SAM database is managed by the General Services Administration, which is responsible for acquiring goods and services for government agencies. There are two basic ways to sell to the government – bid on government contracts or get your company on a GSA schedule.
GSA schedules are lists of approved vendors for certain goods and services. These are long-term contracts, and there are a few advantages that companies on GSA schedules enjoy. First, these are long-term contracts, lasting several years, unlike most government contracts which have fairly quick expiration dates.
Second, when you have GSA contracts, many federal and state agencies can purchase from you. With a regular government contract, you will be working with just one single agency. The downside is that getting on a GSA schedule can be tricky, and harder than actually earning a contract with a single agency. Still, it can be lucrative, so we do recommend that you look into GSA schedules at some point. You can learn more at GSA.gov.
What Is SAM.Gov Versus Beta.SAM.gov?
We often get asked about the differences between these two URLs, and it’s pretty simple. You sign up to become a government contractor at SAM.gov and you search for contracting opportunities at Beta.SAM.gov. In the past, you would look for contracting jobs at FedBizOpps.gov, but now everything has been streamlined in SAM.
Once you’ve completed your SAM registration, SAM.gov won’t seem as important as Beta.SAM.gov. Once you head to this website, you will see a tab that says, “Contract Opportunities.” Click on that and it will lead you to a search engine where you can search for federal government contracts.
The government recently updated Beta.SAM.gov to make it more “user friendly,” however, as with so many government-related websites, these updates actually can make it more confusing. So here are a few tips.
Once you click on “Contract Opportunities,” this will lead you to a search bar labeled “Search Contract Opportunities,” but it’s pretty vague about how to search. We recommend that you click on the “Advanced Search.” This is a mostly blank page that has a search feature on the left side.
You can search for jobs via keyword or scroll down and search by Federal Organization, Dates, Notice Type, Product or Service Information, Set Aside or Place of Performance. You also can select the “More Filters” tab if you want to add a few more options such as NAICS codes.
To make it easy, we recommend heading to that “More Filters” tab and go to the top where it says, “Select All” and click on that and then click on it a second time to clear the filters. Then you can add the specific filters that you want to use for your search. We often find that it’s good to search using NAICS codes and Product and Service Codes (PSCs). This will pull up matches that are specific to the types of goods and services you can provide.
NAICS stands for North American Industry Classification System, and NAICS codes describe the types of goods and services that your company can provide. Product Service Codes (PSCs) are similar, as well, describing your goods and services.
SAM Registration
If the instructions for Beta.SAM.gov seem confusing, that’s nothing compared to the intricacies associated with actually completing your SAM registration. This complicated application can take 10, 12 or more hours to complete and is filled with complicated government-speak.
While the government does not charge you to complete your SAM registration, many people simply give up on SAM and government contracting after they become frustrated with the application. This is a shame because there are many lucrative contracts out there to be had.
With SAM registration, you have two options. You can try to complete the application yourself or you can hire a third-party service to complete your SAM registration for you. At Federal Contractor Registry, we handle hundreds of SAM registrations for companies of all sizes and can complete your registration quickly and accurately. It’s often simply easier to hire an expert to handle SAM registration, just as it is easier to hire an accountant to handle your company taxes.
After SAM Registration
Once your SAM registration is approved, technically you can begin bidding on government contracts. However, the bidding process is complex, so we always suggest that anyone just getting started in government contracting do some research and learn about the different types of government contracts as well as how to bid.
If you qualify as a small business, we recommend that you also sign up with the Small Business Administration, as they provide helpful information about government contracting and you may qualify for various set-asides, which are special categories, such as a woman-owned small business. If you qualify for a set-aside, this can make it easier to earn a government contractor job. To learn more, head to SBA.gov.
You also will need to create a capability statement, which is a special kind of resume just for government contractors. We recommend adding a page just for government contracting to your website and ensuring that a copy of your capability statement is linked to that page so that government procurement agents can take a look at your statement at any time.
While government contracting can be tricky, once you get the hang of it and learn how to bid and find jobs that are good matches for your goods and services, this can be a profitable option for many companies. It does take time, but once you’ve earned that first contract, it becomes easier to earn more contacts, simply because you have some experience.
Hopefully, this has answered “what is SAM.gov,” but if you have more questions, give us a call. If you want to get started with SAM registration, just click on the green New Registration tab on our homepage and a registration specialist will contact you and get started on completing your registration. We also complete SAM renewals, so if you have a current SAM registration and are nearing your expiration date, we can help.